Many conservatives on the fringe are more angry than usual unbelievably (sarcasm :p). And it’s not about the usual suspects (the Clintons, the Kennedys’, Howard Dean, Michael Moore, welfare recipients, ad nauseum)
No, the recent uproar on the AM radio dial and on Fox News is directed at one man. This man’s name is John McCain.
If you go on Rush Limbaugh’s website (which I would suggest not wasting your time) you’ll find a picture of John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Governor Schwarzenegger of California. Above this photo is the caption “McCain chooses to surround himself with liberals.” Limbaugh has been very public in his criticism of McCain, and he’s not the only one. Fringe right-wing columnist Ann Coulter has publically said she’d vote for Hillary Clinton before McCain. Michael Savage has said McCain is “not qualified to be president.” Many on the right feel that McCain is far too liberal for their tastes -he has, after all, signed a controversial immigration bill with Ted Kennedy, and he did pick up an endorsement from the New York Times, the most hated paper in the eyes of the AM Talk Radio crowd- and are outraged that he is well on his way to becoming their party’s nomination.
Moreover, this isn’t the only potential bad news for the Republican Party. Many prominent conservatives aren’t supporting Republican nominees. Tom Bernstein, a Republican who is a former business associate of President Bush as well as his Yale classmate, is now behind Obama. Bernstein, who was a co-owner of the Texas Rangers with George W. Bush, donated the maximum $2,000 donation for Bush in 2004, and gave another $5,000 to the RNC. Mathew Dowd, a former Bush adviser, has announced that he is disappointed of Bush’s “my way or the highway” attitude, and will support a Democratic candidate this year. Other famous Republicans who are now supporting Obama are Robert Kagan of the PNAC and Susan Eisenhower, President Dwight Eisenhower’s granddaughter. Hillary Rodham Clinton has some high-powered Republican supporters of her own. John Mack, chief executive of Morgan Stanley who helped raise $200,000 for Bush and the RNC, has said he is very impressed by Mrs. Clinton’s “expertise.” Between the two Democratic frontrunners, former Bush supporters have raised more than $750,000. There are websites such as Repbublicansforobama.com that cater to these Republican voters who have been scared off by the acts of George W. Bush. Bruce Bartlett, a former Reagan and Bush 41 administration member, has written two articles need in which he makes the case that “sophisticated” conservatives need to vote for the least liberal of the Democratic choices or “go down with the sinking Republican ship.”
Many Republicans fear a split in the party. If a third party candidate enters the ring who can give these disenchanted conservatives a voice, John McCain (assuming the current trend continues) doesn’t have a chance. Mind you, this is a big “if” but since many conservatives may stay out of the ‘08 race anyway, it isn’t really that out of the question.
Ron Paul is just one of the possibilities here. Paul has collected an extreme amount of money through the internet; I for one am curious what he is doing with the money. He stands for many of the conservative ideals that right-wingers accuse McCain of being soft on (on things like immigration, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay adoption, and limiting government)
It’s more than possible that Mr. Paul would make a third party run for the presidency, and in doing so, split the vote between himself and McCain.
The Republican Party is fractured between those who are disgusted by the incompetency of Bush, those who are disgusted by moderate McCain, and those who are just plain disgusted. The party’s old leaders are dying or fading from the public eye, and leaving behind a disjointed grouping of religious conservatives, corporate conservatives, libertarians, moderates and neocons. The party may be well on its way toward a schism.
And I love every minute of it.

You can find out more info about Hillary and Barack’s Republican support at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1752381.ece

AmericanAssassin

03-02-08, 21:36

I figured that the "modern Republican party" would have died off along with the dinosaurs... :whi:

Andariel

03-02-08, 21:44

Well their 1950’s mentality has been dying with each generation so it doesn’t really matter. I have no doubt the next United States President will be a democrat. :p

SamReeves

03-02-08, 21:51

The left wing papers such as the Times are so oblivious of their own devision with the Democrats, but I digress. :rolleyes:

I'll say the best candidate to unite the Republican Party was Giuliani. A fiscal conservative and somewhat socially liberal, but he was a fair guy that was respected by both factions. McCain on the other hand is a hothead, a maverick and he would make Bush look like a saint once he gets done with office. However looking at the other option of Obama or Clinton in November, I'll go with the Republican candidate regardless…because all the Republican candidates excepting Ron Paul have it right on Iraq. That will be the issue that might unify the party.

Eddie Haskell

03-02-08, 21:54

If you really gaze deeply into the so-called "modern" Republican party, well, there really isn't one. It is multiple party's all trying to coalesce into one. One group tries to hoodwink the other into sticking together for the "greater good". There are social conservatives who despise the business/corporate neocons. the neocons "use" and abuse the social conservatives. It is laughable.

Cochrane

03-02-08, 22:08

Any party that has a chance of gaining a majority must represent such a divergence of interest in it's powerbase. Only extremely small parties can afford to have only one opinion on anything. Discussions such as these do not need to mean that the party is going to die, disappear or anything. But when it gets public, it's a clear sign that the party is percieving itself as in trouble of loosing ground it currently holds. Anyone can unite when victories are to be claimed. It'll be interesting to see how this will play out when the votes will be cast.

Eddie Haskell

03-02-08, 22:19

Any party that has a chance of gaining a majority must represent such a divergence of interest in it's powerbase. Only extremely small parties can afford to have only one opinion on anything. Discussions such as these do not need to mean that the party is going to die, disappear or anything. But when it gets public, it's a clear sign that the party is percieving itself as in trouble of loosing ground it currently holds. Anyone can unite when victories are to be claimed. It'll be interesting to see how this will play out when the votes will be cast.

Certainly. But when their candidates are not only disparaged but in fact vilified and hated by the very people who claim to be their comrades, than there is something seriously wrong.

Cochrane

03-02-08, 22:26

Some will always hate their party's leaders. The question is: How many haters are there really? Anyone can make a website. I've only started with university and I already have more former and future former classmates than I can count. What the article says looks impressive on the outside, but is it really? I have no idea, but I would guess that by 2012 at the latest, the Republican party will have managed to reassemble completely.

The party has a huge problem, of course: The previous government, lead by them, is universally percieved as a failure. So now they have to find a new line, somewhere between the old one (which isn't liked by many) and completely different from anything before (which isn't liked by many either). That'll make it difficult to compete this year, but by no means impossible.

myrmaad

03-02-08, 22:31

I think McCain is Honest. Maybe that's synonymous with liberal these days.

USP

04-02-08, 02:46

Heres a good McCain video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqKaU2fZkAc&feature=related
"We need more sunshine"

USP

04-02-08, 02:55

...because all the Republican candidates excepting Ron Paul have it right on Iraq. That will be the issue that might unify the party.

Only 58 percent of the party is for the war in Iraq now. Hardly "unifying". It goes far beyond Iraq though. We don't have the authority to enforce our will on foreign countries behind the barrel of a gun. It's unconstitutional and illegal under international law.
My question to you though, is why do you support the war. I'm honestly curious because living in MD has not given me the opportunity to even meet a Republican, let alone talk to one.

SamReeves

04-02-08, 04:00

It sounds like you've already made up your own conclusions, so I will not bother to answer. I know the real answer and my co-workers do too! :)

Have fun with the conspiracies! :wve:

Quasimodo

04-02-08, 04:08

It sounds like you've already made up your own conclusions, so I will not bother to answer. I know the real answer and my co-workers do too! :)

Have fun with the conspiracies! :wve:

Does it have anything to with Saddam Hussein changing the petrol currency in his country to the Euro in 2000? Though that sounds like what you'd call a conspiracy theory.

I'm interested in knowing why the war was justified; not in a "I'm waiting to tear your claims apart because they don't match my views" kind of way, but in an "honestly wanting to know" kind of way ;)

myrmaad

04-02-08, 09:49

For the record:
I'm from Maryland and I know many Republicans who live in Maryland. I thought I'd never see it in my lifetime, but my father stopped voting Republican in 2000. Which upset my grandmother no end, she very much supported "W". My father is extremely conservative in his views, but he's also extremely intelligent (built a fortune in his lifetime), and farsighted. He is also a farmer by choice not inheritance, his father was not a farmer, and lives his life as a steward of the land.

USP

04-02-08, 19:43

It sounds like you've already made up your own conclusions, so I will not bother to answer. I know the real answer and my co-workers do too! :)

Have fun with the conspiracies! :wve:
I am against American imperialism and illegal wars, that is all. I don't subscribe to conspiracies.

Actually my grandfather is a republican but he lives way out past Charles county (farm land).
stop being such a beast Reeves